Trixie Mattell wants you to take a break
Trixie Mattell wants you to take a break
Need I say more?
Welcome to Gen Z Translator, where I break down trending topics on Fridays. If you’re new, you can subscribe here and follow me on Threads, Instagram, or X. Views are my own. Happy reading!
Thanks for bearing with the break I took from Substack! It was nice to have a normal summer vacation, and a couple weeks to travel, make new friends, and decompress at the beach. It’s a nice segue into the topic of today’s newsletter.
Trixie Mattell hard-launched1 a three month sabbatical on Monday (fittingly accompanied by an advertisement for a mental health app).
In case you don’t know who Trixie Mattell is, she’s a famous drag queen with a large YouTube presence. She prefers to be called Trixie, rather than her real name, because you wouldn’t call Lady Gaga “Stefani” if you met her, etcetera.
I was surprised to see this YouTube video making headlines, since Trixie had been in my feed for a bit, but then I remembered when I first saw the headline for the YouTube video, I did a double-take, too.
Before watching the video, I was worried Trixie was leaving leaving. After all, we’ve seen YouTubers go on hiatus for years. (Cough, cough, Dan Howell). A constant social media presence can wear on anyone, let alone a professional beholden to brand deals and film schedules.
Trixie cited being overworked as well as off-screen challenges as reasons for her break. “The last 12-ish months really challenged for me the human spirit,” she said. “The Trixie little industry that I’ve created, I think just as is has not really been sustainable.”
Trixie has been open about growing up poor and feeling like she has to take advantage of every opportunity presented to her. She has her own makeup brand, music, and podcast, not to mention her TV show Trixie Motel.
“In my mind, I have such a sense of wonder because I never thought any of this would happen. When I started doing drag, drag queens weren’t even able to do what I’m doing.” -Trixie Mattell
I found the video refreshing and relatable. I, too, like to keep myself busy by having a billion projects at once. Even during my downtime, I’ve been working on some exciting things, and just like Trixie, I schedule out content even when I’m gone. I’ve also seen how stress can make you sick, and being overworked can cause you to lose joy for something you used to love.
“Being a hard worker is fierce. Being a hard worker at the expense of your real life and health is not fierce,” Trixie said.
So listen to Trixie this summer and do yourself a favor by taking a nice, long vacation.
What you (we) missed
Here’s a quick summary of topics I probably would’ve covered if I had been around:
brat summer: It’s possible I’ll return to this because I love it so much. Charlie xcx released her album brat, as well as the extended edition, Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not. She championed the complicated nature of being a woman, highlighted by her collaboration with Lorde. She created a chic, vibey, unskippable album that promotes a messy party girl aesthetic to fuel a high-energy brat summer. Not only that, but the album cover has produced a string of epic memes based on her signature Arial font and a vibrant green color. I will never get “365” out of my head.
Hawk Tuya Girl: After a viral sound bit, Haliey Welch capitalized on internet fame. She’s gone on podcasts, reportedly assembled a management team, and made guest appearances. Some branded it as going too far, while others reflected on the Ellen days where something as simple as white vans or a Target check-out counter could get you slotted. The question remains, is her fame as fleeting as five seconds or will she beat her odds?
Other celebrity news: Justin Timberlake was arrested on a DWI charge by police officer who didn’t know who he was, Katy Perry’s new album reminiscent of her glory days flopped, and Simone Biles has a documentary coming out on Netflix.
Read my last celebrity story: Nicholas Galitzine should be on your radar
My weekly roundup:
🎶 What I’m Listening To: Sympathy is a knife by Charlie xcx
🎞️ What I’m Watching: GT Live
🔎 What I’m Reading: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
📱 What I’m Scrolling: brat memes. It will always be brat memes.
⚠️ What’s On My Radar: Deadpool vs. Wolverine 😈
Read the full Gen Z Dictionary here.
Hard-launched: officially announcing something